Feature

Hello Kitty is known throughout Japan as the poster girl (poster cat?) of kawaii, a segment of pop culture built around all things cute. But recently she took on a new job: representing the proposed International Linear Collider.

Director's Corner

There’s a fitting phrase for the funding landscape of international high-energy physics projects: “It’s complicated.” Hitoshi Yamamoto, Director for Physics and Detectors in the Linear Collider Collaboration, describes the various sources of financial support, especially for developing future detectors, and where all of them stand. His advice: use all the opportunities there are.

Image of the week

Junior high-school students Kotomi Sato and Momoyo Sugawara, members of the “ILC club,” visited CERN last August with three other students to learn more about life in a big international science laboratory. They were invited to give a short debriefing during a panel discussion at an ILC symposium held on 10 September in Oshu city, where both girls said that they thought particle scientists are 'cool'!

Sato has always loved science and she is determined to become a researcher at the ILC. Sugawara met many people in Geneva who greeted her in Japanese, and she felt very happy about it. "I want to study English harder," she said, "to make foreign people comfortable if the ILC is being built in my neighborhood."

In the News

ＪＲ一ノ関駅西口の入り口ひさし中央部に、県南部の北上山地（北上高地）への誘致が期待される次世代の大型加速器「国際リニアコライダー（ＩＬＣ）」のＰＲ看板がお目見えした。(At the entrance of Ichinoseki railway station, advertisement board for the ILC was posted to increase public awareness）

岩手日報社主催のＩＬＣクラブで８月にスイス・ジュネーブの欧州合同原子核研究所（ＣＥＲＮ）を訪問した奥州・水沢中３年の菅原百代さんと一関・花泉中２年の佐藤琴恵（ことみ）さんがパネル討論した。(Momoyo Sugawara and Kotomi Sato, who visited CERN in August joined panel discussion at the ILC symposium held on 10 September in Oshu city.)

One of the Engineering Girls, third year science and engineering student Yuki Wada (20 years old, from Morioka City) said, “The children who listened to our lecture today will be adults when the ILC will start its experiments. I hope they gain an interest in the mysteries that surround them every day.”
(Full translation provided by Iwate & the ILC website.)

同準備室で広域基本計画を担当する東京大学の山下了特任教授は「ＩＬＣが実現することによってどんなことができるか考え、地域の方々に参加してもらうことによって波及効果が表れる。いかに多くの方々に参加してもらうかが勝負となる。そういう観点からすると、準備室が果たす役割の中でも、広報部門は非常に重要な役割を担うことになる」と話す。
(Dr. Satoru Yamashita [who] will be in charge of creating the basic plan for the greater region at the Preparation Office […] said, “We will think about what will become possible should the ILC become a reality, and we will see many spinoff effects because of the participation of people around the region. The more people get involved, the higher the chance we will succeed. If you look at it that way, the role of PR will become more and more important as we prepare for the project.”)Read full translation provided by Iwate & the ILC website here.

Their formal request had 13 items, including:
– A faster reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
– The realization of the ILC
– Attracting businesses and jobs to the region
– The continuation of running some prefectural high schools
(Full translation provided by Iwate & the ILC website.)

水沢区羽田町のＪＲ水沢江刺駅（寺田亮司駅長）の東口広場に３日、国際リニアコライダー（ＩＬＣ）の誘致をＰＲする看板がお目見えした。市が設置準備を進めていたもので、市内外の駅利用者に対し、大型科学プロジェクトの誘致をアピールしていく。
(On July 23rd, a sign for the ILC project was installed for people walking by the east exit plaza of JR Mizusawa-Esashi Station (Hada-cho, Mizusawa district, Oshu City). The Oshu City government prepared this sign to spread the word about this large-scale science project to all of those who use the station.)Read full translation provided by Iwate & the ILC website here.